Review of "The Mood Cure"

The book has a good name given
its content: The Mood Cure is intended for those who are in search of a
cure for their mood. According to Julia Ross, much of the psychological suffering
we endure in North
America is due
to our bad nutrition. She suggests us an interesting way of alleviating this
pain and maybe do the first steps towards a renewed and freshened life so as to
get our mood cured. The book is talking about how our mood relates to the food we eat. It aims at
relieving sadness and heavy feelings by ensuring she gets the key nutrients
missing in our brain. The solution lies in a knowledge of which chemicals are
necessary in our brain to create "good moods". Conversely, knowledge
of how "bad moods" are caused up with the depletion or proliferation
of different chemicals in our brain is necessary. Knowing how moods are made
present by these chemicals is then put in relation with the food we eat.

The book starts with four questionnaires aimed at determining what kind
of problems you may have with your brain. The first is called "Are You
Under a Dark Cloud?", the second "Are You Suffering from the
Blahs?", the third "Is Stress Your Problem?" and the fourth
"Are You Too Sensitive to Life's Pain?". These four charts list the
symptoms of what her team in San
Francisco have determined to
be general categories of uneasiness that are linked to particular causes. Each
chart identifies specific substances that, when insufficient, can lead to the
symptoms the chart indicates. In the case of the first chart, low-levels of
serotonin are the cause. In the case of the second chart, depletion of catecholamines'
and thyroid functions under normal are the cause. In the case of the third
chart, adrenal overload is the cause. And in the case of the fourth chart, it
is low levels of endorphins that are at fault. In all cases, it is depletion
of a substance that drives the bad mood. And it is essentially because our bad
eating habits have destroyed our reserves of these basic good mood nutrients
that we need to be hoisted up.

Her experience as a nutritional psychologist has shown her that even if
people started to eat well (lots of proteins and vegetables) and stopped eating
junk food, the relapse was too hard to be shunned for most of them, as the call
for coffee or tempting foods, such as sweets and refined starches, took them
over. People with depleted stocks of essential nutrients are low to build them
up again, and before the stocks rebuild, many of her clients did fall.

Around 1980, Blum's results concerning amino acids on alcohol as well
as drug addicted individuals came to Ross' attention: Blum found that "the
addicts who took the amino acids were able to stay away from drugs and
alcohol. Those who took no aminos had four times higher relapse rates"
(p. 7). This is the heart of the book: Ross suggests using amino acids as a spring-board
to avoid relapses when we make our first steps towards a good mood nutrition.
In fact, the four charts are based on relapses and on our addictions. All
these are normal for Ross: our addictions rest on the fact that we are using
this very addiction to boost, artificially though, the now depleted but usually
present substance. For example, in the case of the second chart, it is normal
that one of the symptoms is "Do you feel the need to get more alert and
motivated by consuming a lot of coffee or other "uppers" like sugar,
diet soda, ephedra, or cocaine?" (p. 17) since these substances increase catecholamines
levels temporarily, but leaving your body totally depleted afterwards in catecholamines,
which means that you'll further seek these substances, which gets you in a
circle that doesn't break. Her solution is that our addictions should to be replaced
by nutritional supplements that will naturally fulfill the needs of our body.
This is the very reason why we get to know the aminos that are missing in our
brain so that we start right now building up our stocks.

Our knowledge in the field of neurotransmitters has shown links between
the mood of people and their inner balance of elements in their brain.
Neurotransmitters are chemical elements that are necessary to the neurons to
"communicate" with their neighbours: these substances are the messengers.
These are in fact interacting in the neighbouring of the contact of two
neurons: this is the interface where all of human cognition is centred. Imagine:
millions of neurons interconnected in this way constitute our intelligence,
solely.

But when we get to feel bad and low, researchers have identified that
we are then low on certain of these neurotransmitters. A chief one is
serotonin, a natural element present in all of our brains. This lays the bases
for pharmaceutical companies who produce antidepressants like Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil,
etc.: knowing what deficiency a brain has (serotonin here), we will try to
tweak in some artificial reaction that can help to sustain the element that
interests us. These antidepressants have, to a variable extent, an effect on
the subject that is usually beneficial but often unstable in many cases, coming
with numbers of side effects. In fact, it is a very known fact that almost all
of antidepressants have a long list of side effects. We are tempted to think
that maybe an artificial solution isn't the right one after all? That is what
Ross believes. And this explains her enthusiasm.

She gives us the example of the SSRI's. They are technically called
"selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors" (SSRI's). Here's basically
how it works. When the day finishes off, serotonin, from the catecholamine
family, breaks into melatonin and 5-HIAA. So, said the biochemical scientists
of these companies, since serotonin is the element we are interested in, let's
stop the normal reaction that converts serotonin into less complex forms.
"The individual will be better " they thought. The idea,
essentially, is fine. But they didn't foresee that melatonin and 5-HIAA were
also essential to a good mood! In fact, melatonin is a very good molecule, by
getting us to sleep, and 5-HIAA, by being an efficient protector against
"negative moods like violent crimes, suicide, severe insomnia and
addiction" (p. 224). Our body was designed so that serotonin
decomposes itself into the forms of melatonin and 5-HIAA: that's the way our
body was built, naturally. It is then more than normal that major side effects
to SSRI's (except Prozac) are bad sleep and violence (either internally or
externally directed)! The thing is: natural substances like serotonin and
melatonin and 5-HIAA can't be patented. They are, let's say, public.
So why then do you think the child in our schools are getting Prozac and other
drugs? Ross shows evidence that these natural ways of balancing our moods are
often more effective than the artificial ones… and without the well-known side
effects.

In the case of SSRI's, she proposes an interesting alternative: the
amino acids. These are "concentrates of common proteins found in
food" (p. 7). Instead of going for artificially acting antidepressants
and the like, she urges us to go for what our brain naturally asks for, simply,
certain proteins in a sufficient amount. In the case of serotonin, she asks us
to get serotonin boosters, simply, like 5-HTP and Tryptophan. And these
boosters are naturally present in our brain, so they won't alter our natural
balance if taken with care. So her book is telling us two things : 1) North
Americans have poor diets, and what a good diet should look like and 2) the
solution proposed by the pharmaceutical industry to bypass bad moods are far
from excellent, and a good diet should do the trick along with the necessary
"recovery" regimen of amino acids.

For each of the four charts of symptoms, Ross indicates a somewhat
complex program. The book in general is written in a quite technical language,
making it a complete but a little abstruse text. It will be hard for the
first-comer in neurotransmitters' talk to get to understand fully what is the
thing going on. Nonetheless, the steps she proposes us are quite easy to go
through. The problem though with this text is that recommendations are
entwined in the text, making it somewhat delicate, I felt, for someone with
absolute no scientific knowledge to use this book. I felt this book was designed
for educated people and couldn't really be called a "self-help" book
in the broadest sense of the term since it demands of the reader a certain
responsibility over his own self that some may lack. On the other hand, this
book is so complete that I am assured someone could start his own clinic using
this book as it is full of instructive insights into such a practice.

I personally attest that the programs do yield interesting results! I
personally tried Saint-John's Wort and Tyrosine – both natural – and had quite
good results with both to resolve some chart's 1 and 2 symptoms. I was quite
curious to see what would be the effects and I was quite amazed to see how
clean and effective their effects were, but somewhat surprisingly unnatural to
me at first. Tyrosine was especially strong in "brightening" up my
mood and giving me alertness: I was suspicious about such a strong effect on
only one pill. But soon the effect felt natural for me, something you get used
to and appreciate. In a word, I felt her understanding of the brain's chemicals
functions targeted accurately the deficiencies and that the solution to them
were precise.

Enough now of the hoisting of our moods using amino acids. Another
important aspect of the book concentrates on starting a new regime, one that
will contribute to our mental health. There, the most unforeseen surprises
were to come: not only can you eat butter, milk, eggs and olive oil for
example, but they are top foods for a good mood! Cholesterol, for one thing,
was quite misinterpreted in the past, as it is necessary in a certain level in
our body (she, in fact, tells us that too low levels of cholesterol seem to be
more hurtful than too much cholesterol!). Essentially, these food categories
are paramount for a good mental health (and general health):

2-wheat and its cousins Rye, Oats and Barley (surprise!: because of their gluten
that is bad for digestion);

3-bad fat such as
hydrogenated vegetable oil and margarine;

4-soy (big surprise!).

All diet food are not to be taken since they are NOT food (simply);
coffee as well. This regime is in getting constant fueling for your brain. It
is to be started right away. She even provides recipes and talks about the
kitchen implements necessary! This book is very complete indeed: there are 25
pages on "Good-food menus" (pp. 165-191). She then goes on with
supplements to take along.

The last part of the book is about "Special Mood Repair
Projects". There are projects for people on antidepressants, for people
with sleep disorder (are you a night worker for example?), one for addictions,
one for thyroid dysfunction and one for adrenals'. Interesting enough, the
book does not have a conclusion! It's clearly built as a book to use,
not to let on the shelf. It is recommended for people who wonder why they have
been in such a bad mood for so long or for people looking to get off their
antidepressants regimen. I was indeed really happy to read that people could
effectively get off antidepressants using her method!

But although Ross is explicit about all this biochemistry, she doesn't
say a word about what is it to be happy or in a good mood, and
from a philosophical point of view, I felt this to be quite disappointing. Her
goal, we understand, is to repair our brain, to rebalance our brain's depleted
stock of nourishing and normally present neurotransmitters and other stuff. But
she does not take an extensive look at what is it to be in a good mood,
or a bad mood, philosophically or psychologically speaking. To have a
criterion as "if you feel good, then it's ok" is insufficient for
such an important subject. This is the pitfall of such an enterprise: can we
consider this criterion to be sufficient in itself?

It raises problems since if your criterion is only "if it makes
you feel good", anything can get into this category: beer, drug, sex,
etc. It is also hard to see how an individual could be made happy only by
using good mood food… Isn't a sense of accomplishment (or lack of) the key
to a good mood? She would reply that "no, we are only here giving the
basics your body need, that's all. Without this, you could hardly have a good
mood." She's probably right on this. But I fear that some readers,
including myself, might get entangled with that "you want it, get it"
attitude so cherished by Americans that makes you forget that it is not really
the pill that you swallowed that made you more happier. It is hoped that she
will give more attention to this topic because her results could be
misinterpreted as being a "miracle" cure that suffices itself and by
itself. With this, I do not agree. I am not sure that without speaking of it
you could bring anything worth to that hard question : "what should I
do?"

And it is hard to distinguish, in the book, between a real criteria as
"it made me feel really better" and simple medical interpretation of
what ought to be taken so as to feel good because of results. Said in another
way, it is untrue that if it is medically ok, it MUST then be goof for my
mood. Cholesterol was the chief enemy for so many years because of results
scientists had in the middle of the century: are we sure now that these results
here are valid? It is again impossible to determine this: we can only hope it
will be the better given what we actually know as science.

So, from an epistemological point of view, the book is far from purity:
the results shown are split between two domains : a first one based on the
pharmaceutical language; a second one based on common-sensical language about
different mood attitudes. It would be beneficial for Ross to invest the
coupling of both since it is the most feeble point in her work : someone could
convincingly argue that spiritual work is to be preferred to it, or that
psychological treatment would do the job, or that general accomplishment is the
missing ingredients into depressive individuals, etc. Her definition of
"true emotion" is laconic and just deficient. I ask myself : How
could 365 pages talk about what is a "good mood" when the concept
"true emotion" – the goal of her work – is described in one page at
the beginning of the book? What if God didn't want us to intervene in such a
complex thing as our mood? What if it didn't really render the
individual truly more happy, in a different sense of "true
emotion"? It is more than ok to educate people on what is good and bad
food, etc., but let us not fall into the opposite: if happiness is
neurotransmitters'-based, then happiness becomes a pill. My fear is
that we could use this text to assess some sort of materialistic
"programme" or "ideology", things all too common, sadly, in
our culture nowadays. And this kind of idea is clearly near from one as in Brave
New World… where we all die happily but in a crappy way.

So I was split in two reading this book: on the first side, it is more
than welcome to learn all this, but on the second, I am not convinced we will,
as humans, use this popular-becoming-stuff very intelligently. I fear
that with all the irresponsibility in our society this knowledge will be used
for giving us an artificial sense of happiness and completeness. I would ask
Ross to press further on the concept of happiness as it is of the highest
importance in the context. But overall, I liked the book and I did learn a
lot. An important book in my life.

Martin Brodeur is a student in Université du Québec à Montréal
(UQAM). He finishing soon his Masters' memoir in philosophy. He has
done 1½ year of electrical engineering in Sherbrooke
before switching to humanities.